Tom and Sue Felmey are preparing to ride out the storm, "Sandy", on their boat the Erica Leigh in Fortescue.Staff Photo by Cathy Cramer

DOWNE TWP. — As coastal residents across the region evacuate their homes in the hours leading up to Hurricane Sandy’s arrival, one couple at least is committed to riding the storm out, literally.

Tom and Sue Felmy have weathered storms on the water before, in their 48-foot charter boat, the Erica Leigh. Wind, rain, hail and high tides have come and gone, but Sandy could potentially outpace them all.

“We always ride storms out on board,” said Sue, as she and her husband prepared for the next few days.

“The best way to protect your boat is to be here,” Tom explained. “If we were not here, we’d be worried about the boat.”

With storm surges of potentially 8 to 10 feet, the Felmys may need to shove off from the relative security of the docks and make for open water.

“Basically, if she starts to get banged around so bad that we start to get beaten up it can be easier to cast off and ride the storm out under way.”

The Erica Leigh is certainly well-provisioned for a few days. The Felmys have plenty of food and water, and a generator for electric for when Fortescue inevitably loses power.But, according to Tom, storms on the water are always interesting, and one of Sandy’s magnitude is unprecedented in its potential scope.

“There is always the chance a rope will break,” said Tom. “But we’ve been down here for storms and have had 70 mph sustained winds for 20 minutes or so, after that it was just a heavy rainstorm.”

Though no one can predict exactly what the storm will bring, the Felmys are expecting extreme high tides, aided by driving wind and torrential rain.

“The last high tide we had was 2 to 2 1/2 feet over the normal high-tide mark,” Tom said. “The next one will be 3 to 4 feet higher than normal, and all of the land around here will be under water. The next few days will be the highest tides we have experienced here.”

If such projections prove accurate, the Erica Leigh could be the driest place in all of Fortescue come Tuesday morning.